Random expressions of a Wannabe

Month: October 2018

Last week, parts of a speech of our National Security Advisor, Ajit Doval made headlines. Speaking at the Sardar Patel memorial lecture, Doval said that India needs a strong, stable and decisive government for the next 10 years. He also predicted that weak coalitions will be bad for India.

While I was reading this, I was reminded of another speech made by Y.V.Reddy, Former Governor of RBI some time in 2017. “Interestingly, the highest growth in India from 1990 to 2014 was really during coalition governments… So, in a way it is consensus based… in Indian situation, a coalition probably produces better economic results than a strong government,”Mr. Reddy told a Washington audience on September 27.

From the two specks of wisdom, we can assume that while the former spoke from security point of view, the latter did from economic point of view. While I don’t remember many reactions to Y.V. Reddy’s opinion then, Doval’s speech has triggered a lot of rebuttals, primary one being, this piece from The Print’s Shekhar Gupta where he has argued that majority governments in the past including that of Rajiv Gandhi’s in the 80’s and the present one of Narendra Modi have not been better off significantly than the few coalition governments we had in between!

Without going back too much back in time, I would like to focus on the present majority government of the BJP in this post. By the evening of 16th May, 2014 when it was clear that BJP against all expectations and pre-poll predictions, was hitting the half way mark on their own, there was euphoria all around. Even among the non-BJP loyalists, there was visible excitement of how a majority government can decisively take the country forward without having to constantly look over its shoulders. By nature, coalition governments formed mostly through post poll alliances come with the spectre of instability. So, here was a government finally which had the numbers on its own and a two third majority with its allies. So, can’t blame the public at large including the author if they thought that Acche Din finally arrived for India!

In India, we have had a long history of taking one step forward and few steps backward. Unfortunately this did not change even with a single party government with a decisive leader at its helm as we found soon enough in 2014. We soon found that adequate majority in Lok Sabha is not enough and that the government needs numbers in Rajya Sabha also to be effectively called as a “true majority Sarkar”! And for that, the wait needed to be longer – another 5 years or so!

As per me, the virtues of a single party majority Sarkar got exposed when this government failed to get the amendments in the Land Acquisition Bill passed. In his 1st meeting with the Chief Ministers, Narendra Modi was reported to have got the feedback from most of the CMs (including of the Congress) that the tough and impractical clauses in the Land Acquisition Bill presented the single biggest challenge in getting many infrastructure projects off the ground. The government went about making changes in the provisions and tried to pass the bill. But couldn’t get the bill passed through in Rajya Sabha where the Congress and the Left blocked it effectively. The majority government then tried to use the Ordinance route many times but finally gave up, coming under the cloud of Rahul Gandhi’sSuit Boot Sarkar jibe! As we speak, in spite of this Government’s intent and drive towards kicking off many infrastructure projects, land acquisition continues to be the biggest impediment in meeting deadlines for large game changing projects!

Here, I feel that a coalition Sarkar of the stable type as NDA-1 run by Vajpayee or the UPA-1 run by Manmohan Singh, would have handled this differently. By engaging with the respective oppositions through dialogues and agreeing to give and take on a few provisions. Since many Congress CMs were on board on the changes to the Land Acquisition Bill, dialogues with the Congress party leadership through some of these CMs would have probably done the trick leaving the Left isolated on this. As we all know now, in the initial days of this government, its single point agenda was to isolate the Congress. What if the government had given the status of the Leader of Opposition to the Congress in the Lok Sabha as a quid pro quo to getting their support to a few important bills in the Rajya Sabha? Machiavelli or our own Chanakya would have been proud, isn’t it?

In spite of this initial setback though crucial, I do believe that the Modi Sarkar was flying high in that period. From bringing Swachh Bharat to national discourse to bringing back India at the top of investment destinations worldwide, Modi Sarkar could not make a single false move, but that was till November 2016! With the confidence in the Indian economy back and aided by windfall gains from low crude prices, one thought that the Universe was finally beginning to conspire to make India successful. Again that was still November 2016!

In November 2016, Modi Sarkar took on the Universe and went ahead with Demonetisation. What seemed a master stroke initially to suck out black money, soon turned out to be an ill-conceived and ill – executed move that set the economy back by a year or so. The much lauded ‘Jugaad’ mentality of Indians came to party, the result of which we could finally get to see. As much as 99.3% of the junked 500 and 1,000 rupee notes returned to the banking system!! While it is to the credit of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi that his government came out unscathed with its credibility intact or grown even after this very huge miss-step, I wonder if a major decision like this could have been taken without taking the coalition partners into confidence if it was a coalition government. And in the same token, I do feel that the collective wisdom of a coalition cabinet would not have let this move go at least without proper checks, balances and preparations!

I certainly would not add the introduction of GST as a miss-step of this government as many are doing, as I firmly believe that GST was a long-awaited reform and in the introduction of the same, Modi Sarkar learnt its lessons and behaved like a coalition government in listening to and taking all parties on board. The result is there to see. GST is a reality now and after initial hiccups as can be expected from any path breaking reform, the benefits are trickling down with the GDP showing clear signs of recovery in the past few quarters.

A majority government led by a decisive leader provides for great optics particularly from foreign countries’ point of view. And that has its own benefits as major powers would like to believe that the Government/leader they are engaging across the table has the backing of the popular mandate. However, in practice, I have now come to feel that a coalition government led by a party with a fair share of numbers led by a decisive leader may be ideal for a diverse country like India. In that, we do get the advantage of the collective wisdom of alternate views while, the virtues of the decisive leader are also not missed out.

Or going a step further, a majority government with a decisive leader which behaves like a coalition government by not taking key, strategic decisions without passing by the collective wisdom of alternate brains! In short, institutionalizing the “GST Introduction model” for all key decisions!

So going back to the speeches of Y.V.Reddy and Ajit Doval, both may be correct. In parts! Just that like in many aspects in India, the ideal situation may be somewhere in between!

In the past few weeks, India has been swarmed by two powerful campaigns which could become defining moments in the journey of emancipation of women in India. It has taken a while coming but come it did, provoking and evoking extreme sentiments. While both the movements have women at the thick of things, the similarity at the face of it, may end there.

The more recent of the two campaigns namely #MeToo, was triggered by actress Tanushree Dutta’s revelation of what happened many years ago when she acted with Nana Patekar. This opened the flood gates for many other stories where men allegedly used their power and position to take advantage of women. What started in the film world extended to other fields as well with journalism being the harbinger of sorts!

Those asking #WhyNow, since many of the stories date back to the 70s and 80’s, forget the outlets which were available those days for outing their stories. At work places, where women had to still prove their existential worth in those times, coming out against their bosses would be the last thing in their minds. So, I don’t buy the theory of what Swapan Dasgupta describes in his column today as the “Long conspiracy of silence”! Rather one should be happy that the tyranny of power walls has been broken finally! The big change now for women of course has been the availability of social media at their disposal, its potential to viral a story and make an overarching impact!

Ergo, from now on it’s not going to be “business as usual” at the workplace. The portent combination of screen shots, mobile cameras, smart phone recorders and social media portends the end of the flirtatious man! At the same time, if one looks at “most”, if not all of the horrifying #MeToo episodes, the common link has been the effect of alcohol! A man may understand even a meek signal of a woman’s “No Means No” when he is in his senses. However, I am not too sure if even a clear, no-nonsense “NO MEANS NO” will get into the head of a man in high spirits! So, even after what I will call as a successful campaign which has seen many heavy heads rolling already, self-administered red lines for women may still be what the doctor orders!

As the movement unfolds on social media, we see new names getting added to the list every day! The after-effects of this surprisingly have been pretty quick. Will this ostracization be permanent or just to cool the tempers, only time will tell. And there could be collateral damages! The Wikipedia pages of the named celebrities are not going to be same again. They will contain these #MeToo references for sure and that as per me could turn out to be the biggest deterrent to lewd behaviour and agent for change in men’s attitude in times to come. Or so I hope!

The other campaign – #ReadyToWait related to the issue of entry of all women into the Sabarimala temple is not so recent. It’s been going on for few years now, ever since this issue was turned to the courts. But it has gathered a Ferrari like momentum after the Supreme Court’s constitutional bench pronounced its verdict few weeks ago. As per the 4-1 verdict, the bench opined that the discrimination of not letting women of certain age enter the Sabarimala Aiyappa temple must go. A great victory for women’s rights, right? Well, looking at the response particularly from the women on the ground in Kerala, the verdict has been a big let-down. Even as activists and champions for Women’s liberation are savouring their victory, women believers of the faith in Kerala and elsewhere are pained.

Unlike the #MeToo campaign which is being mainly fought in the social media, the #ReadyToWait fight has now morphed into “Save Sabarimala” movement and is happening on the streets of God’s Own Country! Ever since the judgement came out, hundreds and thousands of women, all learned (Kerala is a 100% literacy state, mind you) and among them many erudite, have questioned the wisdom of the bench! As per them, the issue of women of all ages not entering Sabarimala is not a question of throttling their rights. And that this judgement is not a victory for women’s liberalisation,..,… People and largely women behind protecting the sanctity of Sabarimala and its traditions have been aware for decades the beliefs around the “pratishta” of the Sastha at the Sabarimala temple. In a state which has seen the rule of Left for more than 20 years since independence, if this was a pressing issue, I am sure the same would have been brought up and amends made many years ago. Read my detailed post on the Sabarimala verdict here.

So, #ReadyToWait is not about pressing for women’s right to enter the Sabarimala temple but rather pressing for respecting their faith in not wanting to visit the temple!!! #MeToo and #ReadyToWait are about women’s rights eventually but there is this nuanced difference. The direction this #ReadyToWait movement takes, may very well be a bellwether for future in terms of going to court for getting solutions related to faith! In a country like India, which is steeped in religious beliefs and traditions which in a way defines the spirit of India, this could very well be the wakeup call. To come up with a framework and consensus as to who will decide on contentious issues related to all faiths.

Postscript: Elsewhere, one Swamy who these days is very popular on social media with ‘nithyam oru clip’ explained to his followers about #MeToo and #ReadyToWait thus:

“The convergence of MeToo and divergence of ReadyToWait and the divergence of ReadyToWait and convergence of MeToo are basically the same! There are no 2 things. Only one. That is MeTooWait

As soon as the Sabarimala verdict was out a few days back whereby, the court pronounced that women of all ages can now be allowed to visit the Sabarimala temple, a childhood friend of mine asked me for my reaction to the verdict. He posed the question to me because, I was basically from Kerala and having known that I have been visiting Sabarimala since childhood. My view on the verdict was that as times change, situations change, ground reality changes. Time for traditions, culture etc. etc. to keep evolving with the times. And hence I was for the verdict. Of course this was a simplistic view of a complex case the verdict of which, is now threatening to disturb the pluralistic, multicultural and accommodative fabric of our Indian society.

My view on the verdict was based on the premise that the reasons, (though may be valid at one point in time) for not allowing women in the menstruating age to visit Sabarimala, may no longer be valid in this day and age. And hence this ban doesn’t make sense any more. And I was also of the view that any condition set by force is fundamentally against principles of freedom and is discriminatory. And more importantly, I felt that if my teenage daughter asks tomorrow why she cannot visit the Sabarimala temple, I thought I had no tenable answer.

My view, that the Hindu traditions, religious practices and beliefs have never been cast on stone and have always steered their way along conveniences of mankind, has been consistent with my reaction to the Jallikattu controversy or the more recent controversy around Carnatic singers singing Christian songs. In the Jallikattu issue, I opined that Jallikattu in its present form is certainly cruel to the animal and needs to be reformed. In the interests of preserving tradition and culture a total ban is uncalled for but, certainly safeguards need to be put in place to prevent unethical and unhealthy practices.

However, in the past few days post the verdict I have been seeing some arguments against the verdict, some making sense and some completely off the mark. And the sensible arguments have sort of made me change my mind on my reaction to the verdict.

In Kerala, a state with almost 100% literacy and social indices far ahead of the other states in India, the women have been leading the fight back against the verdict. One of the pieces I read against the verdict said that women don’t feel discriminated at all in being allowed to visit Sabarimala. And it is a question of respecting a tradition which has been in place for so many years. This set me thinking and this piece is the result of the churn in my mind, I guess.

What sets Sabarimala to be different from other temples in Kerala or for that matter in India, is the process of visiting the temple itself. One cannot visit Sabarimala just like that, though these days it is much easier and is more accessible. First of all, the temple is not open 365 days for pilgrims. Even in the present times of increased travel comforts, the journey is comparatively arduous and one needs to make the last 6 kms. of hilly stretch from the Pamba river base to Sannidhanam by walk. (“Dolly service” to carry people up this stretch is available). And there has been the tradition which most men follow of observing a Vratham for 41 days before you travel observing certain practices including celibacy during the period. As part of the rituals, you carry what is known as Iru mudi kettu and carry that all along the trek. And till now, women in the menstruating age have not been allowed. So all these traditions are what that finally make Sabarimala different and what it is today. Of course the practices have gone through their own evolution as I mentioned before, in tune with the times and available technology!

Sans these traditions and beliefs, Sabarimala will be like another temple, where one can visit whenever. If the Government wants, it can lay motor able roads right up to the Sannidhanam so that one doesn’t have to do the physical labouring from Pamba. So, that brings to the main issue. If the following of these traditions is what eventually makes Sabarimala special, why to tinker with them now? If majority of women in Kerala and outside have not been concerned about being discriminated and were #readytowait where is the issue?

Just like this practice in question in Sabarimala, if one digs in deep, there are countless such beliefs, traditions and practices being followed in many places of worship all over India. Some of it may push the borders of one’s freedom, may seem discriminatory and even downright hypocritical. But which make those places of worship unique and special in their own way. It is important for us to pick the right battles to fight which have larger social ramifications rather than pick on potentially harmless issues.

Therefore, I now tend to agree with the lone dissenting voice and ironically the lone lady voice in the Supreme Court Bench – Justice Indu Malhotra, who said that it is not for courts to determine which religious practices are to be struck down except in issues of social evil like ‘Sati’.

Having said that, I am not buying some of the other frivolous arguments against the verdict being bandied upon bringing in false equivalence around practices being followed in other religions like Islam,.. It’s up to those faiths to pick up their fights!

If India as a country is sort of unique in the world, it is because of our strong roots, culture rooted in traditions and our unwavering belief in “Faith”! So in matters of “Faith”, it will be ideal if the interested parties deliberate among themselves and bring in the reforms when needed rather than throwing the ball to the Courts which necessarily have to pronounce judgments keeping aside traditional beliefs and the underlying emotions involved. And as a society, I do believe that this judgement has opened up a Pandora’s Box and could set a precedent for many an issues involving “faith”, all of it may not have a peaceful pass as this one!

“Kallum Mullum,.. – Kaalukku Methai,…” is one among the many slogans you raise to spur yourself while walking up the hill of Sabarimala barefoot. It means stones and thorns are like bed (of roses) to the feet. For an ardent Sabarimala devotee, the judgement though, is seen as a bed of stones and thorns in his hitherto peaceful journey! Having been conflicted on this one for a few days, I do believe that I have a plausible answer to give to my daughter on this “tradition” conundrum!